ASIO 485 



Sumpiigle, Hedeugle, Dan. ; Jorduggla, Swed. ; Jaggi-loadko, 

 Lapp. ; LyJiytsarvinen-polld , Pumppu-haukkd, Finn. ; Koritcli- 

 naya-Sova, Russ. ; el-Hama, Moor. ; Bdf, Arab. 



<$ ad. (Scotland). Ear-tnfts short ; upper parts buffy ochreous, streaked 

 and blotched with dark brown ; quills and tail barred with dark brown, 

 the latter tipped with buffy white ; facial disk dull white, with a few 

 scattered blackish markings, the feathers round the eye blackish ; ruff 

 yellowish white, spotted and speckled with blackish brown ; under parts 

 pale ochreous, streaked, except on the lower abdomen, under tail-coverts, 

 and legs, with blackish brown ; legs pale ochreous, closely covered with 

 short feathers ; bill and claws blackish ; iris bright yellow. Culmen 1*4, 

 wing 117, tail 5'8, tarsus 2'0 inch. The female is rather larger and, as a 

 rule, darker than the male, and the young bird is darker and more rufous, 

 and the dark markings are larger. 



Hab. The whole of Europe, north into the Arctic regions ; 

 Africa south to Natal except in Western Africa ; Asia from 

 Kamchatka to South China and Burma, east to Japan ; Singa- 

 pore, the Sandwich, Caroline, and Ladrones islands ; America 

 south to the straits of Magellan, north to the 67th parallel 

 and Greenland ; the Galapagos islands. 



Unlike the Long-eared Owl the present species frequents 

 open moors and damp marshy places, and is not a woodland 

 bird. 



It is doubtful if it hunts during the day, except in the Arctic 

 summer, but does not seem to be incommoded by the glare of 

 the sun when flushed. It feeds on mice, small birds, reptiles 

 and coleoptera, &c. ; its call is a shrill clear cry keaw, keaw, 

 uttered on the wing, and its flight is buoyant. It breeds in 

 the northern portions of its range, always nesting on the 

 ground, its nest consisting merely of a little grass collected 

 in a depression in the soil, and in April or May it deposits 4 to 

 6, but sometimes 7 or 8 pure white eggs, somewhat elongated, 

 and smooth in texture of shell, which measure about 1*62 

 by 1-25. 



690. AFRICAN EARED OWL. 

 ASIO CAPENSIS. 



Asi? capcnsis (Smith), S. Afr. Quart. Journ. Ser. 2. vol. ii. p. 310 

 (1835) ; Dresser, v. p. 265, pi. 305 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. ii p. 239 '; 

 Irby, Orn. Str. Gibr. 2nd. ed. p. 140. 



El-hama, Moorish. 



ad. (Morocco). Upper parts dark earth-brown, tinged with chocolate 

 and vermiculated with lighter brown ; quills rufescent ochreous, barred with 



